Pieter Lazlo
Pieter Lazlo was a confidant of Magnus the Pious and his ambassador to the Court of the Phoenix King. History Lazlo was a close friend of Magnus von Bildhofen, even before the young noble would rise to the office of Emperor. Magnus entrusted his friend with a letter to the Phoenix King of Ulthuan, in which he asked for aid against the tide of Chaos that advanced into the Old World. Lazlo set sail from Marienburg with a handpicked crew on the ship Sigmar’s Hope (called by its own crew the Forlorn Hope). The ship was imperiled from the outset. The weather was the worst in living memory, and the Marienburg harbourmaster pleaded with them not to set sail, afraid that they would sink before they even reached the sea. But Lazlo and his crew knew if they did not risk death now on the high seas, they would surely die a far more terrible death later when the forces of Chaos overran the Empire. Savage storms lashed their vessel as it crossed the Sea of Claws and on into the ominously named Sea of Chaos. Here, a wave as high as the walls of Altdorf fractured their main mast, and while they struggled to repair it, their ship was blown leagues off course. It was a sad, battered ship that eventually limped into Lothern’s harbour, the crew weak with malnutrition and scurvy. The sight that met their eyes did little to lift their flagging spirits. They sailed past the great lighthouse of the Glittering Tower, seeing that the massive white structure had been blackened by smoke with many of its thousand lamps shattered. The Lothern Straits were crowded with the shattered wreckages of once elegant ships and the bloated bodies of the drowned. The Elven pilot that came on board to guide them through the mightily fortified Emerald Gates told Lazlo that Lothern had survived a great siege, broken but days before. The Dark Elves, said the grim-faced pilot, had returned to Ulthuan once more and their armies and Daemonic allies even now ravaged the towns and countryside further inland. At this news, Lazlo’s heart filled with despair. Would the Phoenix King offer aid to the Empire when his own people were under siege? As his ship arrived at Lothern’s mighty docks, he could see Ulthuan’s armies gathering to march north. As an official representative from the Empire, Lazlo was escorted to meet with the emissaries of Ulthuan’s monarch. He told them all he could of the situation in the Old World and gave them the sealed letter entrusted to him by Magnus. The emissaries took the news and Lazlo’s letter to Finubar, the Phoenix King, as he discussed strategy in his war room with the archmage Teclis and his brother Tyrion, the Everqueen’s champion. Though King Finubar knew the dangers that would face Ulthuan if the Old World fell to the Powers and Dominions of Chaos, he knew he could not spare any troops to send back with Lazlo. The Dark Elves had almost overrun Ulthuan, and if they were not expelled, his people would fall. Hearing the call of destiny, Teclis volunteered himself to go to the Old World with Lazlo and offer what aid he could to Humankind. He knew that should the lands of men fall to the Chaos Gods, then Ulthuan would inevitably follow. So it was that Teclis answered Lazlo’s plea, and two of his brother mages, the Loremasters Yrtle and Finreir, threw in their lot with Magnus and the armies of the Humans. Lazlo lead the delegation to Talabheim, where they met Magnus. Lazlo's fate following the Great War Against Chaos is not recorded. Sources * : Warhammer Fantasy RPG 2nd ED -- Realms of Sorcery ** pg.26. ** pg.27. Category:Empire Characters Category:Lothern Category:L Category:P